Football

From left to right: Kansas University quarterback Dayne Crist, left tackle Tanner Hawkinson and defensive end Toben Opurum will be counted on to lead their teammates on and off the field as KU’s 2012 team captains, coach Charlie Weis announced Tuesday, April 24, 2012.

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Most seasons and at most schools, college football teams select their captains in August, a few weeks after players report to preseason camp.

Not this year. At least not at Kansas University under coach Charlie Weis.

Because of a multitude of factors — including the team’s transitional nature and the Jayhawks’ genuine need for structure — Weis had his players vote for captains on Monday. Prior to Tuesday’s practice, he revealed that senior quarterback Dayne Crist, senior offensive lineman Tanner Hawkinson and senior defensive end Toben Opurum had been selected by their peers to lead the 2012 Jayhawks.

“I couldn’t have hand-picked three players any better than that,” Weis said after Tuesday’s practice.

In addition to the three permanent captains — one more than Weis expected because the vote between Crist and Hawkinson for offensive captain was “too close to call” — a special-teams player will serve as a fourth captain each week during the regular season. Weis said the fourth captain would earn his spot by standing out during the previous week’s game.

Picking captains during the spring caught some Jayhawks by surprise and came in the wake of Weis’ dismissal of two KU players for their role in an alleged altercation at a bar over the weekend. The incident, along with others like it, opened Weis’ eyes to just how much his new team needed to be held accountable by someone other than the head coach.

“I think it’s really important to have some leadership on the team that’s been documented,” Weis said. “These are the guys I’m turning to when there’s a problem, because they will be the immediate intermediaries between me and the team.”

Each of the captains said he believed his responsibilities stretched beyond the gridiron.

“First and foremost, we’ve been having a lot of off-the-field issues,” Opurum said. “And I think that’s one of the things that needs to be immediately addressed. ... We need to make better decisions as a team.”

Added Crist: “I think that’s the biggest emphasis that the captains want to make sure we work on, limiting mistakes off the field, because that’s hurt our team quite a bit so far.”

With spring drills set to wrap with Saturday’s spring game, the rest of the offseason will be a busy time for Weis and his coaching staff.

“Now’s the time I need the leadership,” he said. “I don’t need it in June. I need it now. I need it in May, when the coaches are on the road recruiting. I need it now, when I’m flying from place to place to speak at lunches and dinners. I need veteran guidance for these players to make sure there’s somebody there saying, ‘Hey, don’t do that,’ and, ‘Why would you do this?’”

Weis insists that the recent dismissals were not made to bring an iron-fisted approach to Kansas football.

“It isn’t like I go out on Saturday night looking to see what people are doing,” he said. “I’m not trying to be a drill sergeant here. I’m just trying to make practical decisions based on how people act on and off the field. That’s all.”

The first-year KU coach also made it abundantly clear that he was not about to waste his chance to lay down the law.

“I think you get one opportunity to set it right,” Weis said. “It’s a common philosophy with coaches that it’s always easier to loosen up on a team after it’s been rigid than it is to tighten up on a team after it’s been loose. I think if you start loose, you have no chance.”

Crist and Hawkinson are both first-time captains, while Opurum, a captain in 2011, was selected for the second time.

Crist, who has been in town for less than four months, said he was honored by the news.

“It’s great knowing that your team supports you,” he said. “But at the same, time it’s just a title. I’ll be the same guy, and I’ll come to work the same way that I had been prior to being named a captain.”

Gibas gone?

After going through most of offseason conditioning and being seen around the KU football complex earlier this year, sophomore long snapper Tanner Gibas has been taken off the KU roster. Asked what happened, Weis said Tuesday that it was a personal thing on Gibas’ part, and that was all he could say.

Gibas appeared in all 12 games during 2011 and significantly upgraded KU’s special teams.

Berglund still searching

Former KU quarterback Brock Berglund, who suited up for a couple of practices and was dismissed from the team by Weis after missing a mandatory team meeting in January, has not picked a new school.

According to a recent update from the Associated Press, Berglund has talked to at least one coach from every major conference and will begin taking official visits this weekend. His first visit will be to Ole Miss, with UCLA, UNLV, Miami (Fla.) and Utah to follow. The report said Berglund, 6-foot-4, 220 pounds, also visited Liberty, where former KU coach Turner Gill is now the head coach.

I will rent a limo and pick you gentlemen up at the airport and take us all to the game.
One proviso...I will not wait for the game to start. I will start booing as the Liberty team comes out for warm-ups!! :)

My heart skipped a beat as I had not read the end of the article and thought you were talking about Bourban. Glad you aren't. I wouldn't waste my time with what you propose. Send the money it would cost to the program to keep something like the past two years from ever happening again.

I really stinks to loose Gibas. Even as a freshman, he was a huge upgrade on ST.

The AP article on BB was classic. He's not just gonna fall for any flashy weightroom this time. He's doing his research to make sure it's a good fit. ... but it doesn't make a difference what O they run, because he can play any O. It will be interesting to see who is most desperate.

"This time around, Berglund feels more educated about the recruiting process. When he was at Valor Christian High School in Highlands Ranch, Colo., Berglund was easily impressed -- by a weight room, practice facility or a campus.

Now, the 19-year-old is making more of a business decision: Does the coach's style fit his game? Is it a stable environment? Does it feel right?"

I think that the original article on this stated that KU would hear back by May 2, assuming that they filed the appeal. I'm actually a little shocked that it would move that fast but lets keep our fingers crossed.

Have a John Calipari team come to town, put ticket holding KU fans on the roof of Allen Fieldhouse during the game, away from James Naismith court, and tell me the score at the end of the game. Then come back and tell me with a straight face putting fans around the playing surface at Memorial Stadium has anything to do with cosmetics.

The ones with the stripe are the practice unis and have been for several years. I know the player names are going back on the jerseys, but I don't remember about the crimson stripe on the helmet. Weis talked about the changes in the uniforms earlier this spring, but I don't remember which article it was in.

I do think that some sort of fresh start with the uni's would be a good idea. A poster earlier in the year had an avatar with the best-looking KU helmet that I've ever seen - maybe they are working on something. Frankly, it would be a little disappointing to see this team come out in the Turner G. uni's again.

A while back someone posted a link to some sample helmets for all of the Big 12 and Big 10 teams. I think it was just some designer's dream, but they were awesome. Every team had a new look but keeping with their school image. KU was an oversized jayhawk on one side of the helmet only. Pretty cool. Some were simple, like KState flipping to a purple helmet with silver powercat. It made for a totally differnet look. Really cool designs. I wish I could remember where to find the link. Maybe someone else knows...

A while back someone posted a link to some sample helmets for all of the Big 12 and Big 10 teams. I think it was just some designer's dream, but they were awesome. Every team had a new look but keeping with their school image. KU was an oversized jayhawk on one side of the helmet only. Pretty cool. Some were simple, like KState flipping to a purple helmet with silver powercat. It made for a totally differnet look. Really cool designs. I wish I could remember where to find the link. Maybe someone else knows...

Great article Matt but I wish everyone would stop wasting their breath on Brock, he wasted KU's money and time. We should not have to waste our time thinking about what he is doing. On a plus side I like reading your articles keep up the good work.